A 45-year-old Indian schoolteacher in China’s Shenzhen city is suffering from a new strain of pneumonia, whose outbreak was first reported in the city of Wuhan, PTI reported on Sunday. Preeti Maheshwari is the first foreigner to be affected by the novel coronavirus, which resembles the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
Maheshwari, a teacher at an international school in Shenzhen, was admitted to a local hospital after she fell seriously sick on January 10. Her husband Anshuman Khowal told PTI that three days later doctors confirmed that was suffering from the virus.
Khowal, a businessman from Delhi, said Maheshwari was on ventilator and other life-support systems. According to doctors, she may take a long time to recover.
On Friday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued an advisory for people travelling to and from China about the outbreak of the virus in Wuhan, where more than 500 Indian students study. The coronavirus is part of same family as the SARS, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome. Symptoms range from fever and coughing to kidney failure.
Authorities in Wuhan on Sunday announced that 17 new cases had been detected in the city, the South China Morning Post reported, taking the total number of cases to 62. Of these, two people have died, eight are in a serious condition and 19 have been discharged. Two people in Shenzhen are currently in quarantine at the Third People’s Hospital, the newspaper added.
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